Detroit Free Press - General Motors executives have a message to hourly workers who have been watching the automakers' continued profits: Givebacks in this year's contract need to come via "variable costs, contingent upon results," as CEO Dan Akerson told analysts Thursday.
"A company that goes back to the old cost structure would not bode well for General Motors," Akerson said. Both the UAW and GM, he said, have a goal of guarding against a rise in structural costs, such as fixed wages and benefits.
Mark Reuss, president of GM North America, said GM is hoping to institute an hourly pay-for-performance plan. "That's what we want in this culture," Reuss told reporters Thursday at an automotive conference in Traverse City.
GM, along with Ford and Chrysler, began talks with the UAW last week to replace a four-year contract that expires Sept. 14.
Reuss, who has previously suggested that the profit-sharing formula for hourly workers should be tied to quality, reinforced that idea Thursday.
"All of those things that I get measured on, I want everybody else to get measured on, too," Reuss said following a speech at the Center for Automotive Research's Management Briefing Seminars. "I don't care who you are."
The challenge with tying worker profit-sharing to quality or efficiency is that some automotive plants have newer equipment than others, making it easier to achieve those measures in some plants than others.
"We're pursuing common hourly and salary quality rewards for excellence in our negotiations," Reuss said in his speech.
UAW President Bob King said Wednesday he is open to changing the profit-sharing formula that was established by the Detroit Three in 1982. At times, the formula has resulted in bonuses exceeding several thousand dollars.
